Has the opposition’s Mahagathbandhan lost the race for Bihar before it even begins?
The Bihar Assembly elections are just a fortnight away, but instead of coming together to battle the ruling NDA, in-fighting and poor planning has resulted in the ‘Grand Alliance’ having to deal with ‘friendly fights’ across 12 constituencies.
This after the opposition coalition comprising Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD, Rahul Gandhi’s Congress, and Left parties including CPI, CPI-ML, and more, have struggled to finalise seat-sharing arrangements.
Consequently, RJD and Congress will battle each other in 6 constituencies. Elsewhere, the CPI and Congress will face each other in 4 constituencies, whilst Mukesh Sahani’s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and the RJD will clash in two seats.
To make matters worse, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), a key ally, exited the grand alliance’s state-level arrangement altogether.
Furthermore, the indecisiveness has resulted in smaller allies like the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) exiting the grand alliance’s state-level arrangement altogether. The party has stated that its demands were overlooked and its traditional strongholds, such as Chakai, Katoria, and Pirpainti, were allotted to other partners without prior consultation.
Now, there is some hope for the Mahagathbandhan, some.
Though it’s already too late for constituencies like Bachhwara, Rajapakar and Bihar Sharif as the last date for withdrawal of nominations for Phase 1 has ended - the ‘Grand Alliance’ can still salvage the situation in others as Thursday, October 23, is the last date for withdrawal for Phase 2 of Bihar’s assembly polls.
Either way, the ruling NDA looks set to take full advantage of the opposition’s disarray.
Union Minister and President of LJP (Ram Vilas) Chirag Paswan believes the Mahagathbandhan’s internal face-offs could split the opposition vote. Something that he believes gives the NDA the edge, especially in constituencies that were previously thought to be challenging.
Just a month ago, the Mahagathbandhan seemed to be cruising. Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav’s joint ‘Voter Adhikar Rally’ against the ECI’s controversial Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls seemed to have turned the tide in their favour. But now, Mahagathbandhan seems to be fraying at the edges and have likely handed Bihar over to the NDA on a silver plate.
